Samsung Galaxy Watch With Tizen-Based OS, Always On Display Launched

Highlights

Samsung Galaxy Watch price starts at $329.99 for the 42mm variant

The 46mm Galaxy Watch variant starts at $349.99

It will go on sale in the US on August 24

Samsung Galaxy Watch was also unveiled on Thursday at the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 launch event in New York. The company has rebranded its smartwatch series, abandoning the Gear S branding it used previously. Ahead of the launch, reports had indicated the reason for this was because Samsung had chosen to use Wear OS by Google instead of its own Tizen operating system. That turned out not to be the case, and Samsung has gone with a Tizen-based Wearable OS 4.0 build instead. The Samsung Galaxy Watch has been launched in two size variants - 42mm and 46mm - with different battery capacities, display sizes and resolution, as well as colour options. At the event, the company also unveiled the Wireless Charger Duo, letting users charge their Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Galaxy Watch at the same time, apart from its Apple HomePod competitor - the Galaxy Home.

"The new Galaxy Watch was designed for all lifestyles to help meet consumer needs, such as more efficient battery life to stay connected longer, and better wellness tracking to help users maintain their goals - we are delivering them with connected experiences, all at the touch of a wrist," said DJ Koh, President and CEO of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics, in a statement following the launch.

Samsung Galaxy Watch price, release date

The Samsung Galaxy Watch price starts at $329.99 (roughly Rs. 22,600) for the 42mm variant, while the 46mm variant starts at $349.99 (roughly Rs. 24,000). It will go on sale in the US on August 24, and on August 31 in South Korea, whereas availability for other markets starts from September 14. These prices are for the Bluetooth variants, while LTE variant pricing is not yet available.

Samsung Galaxy Watch specifications, features

Samsung is boasting of the Galaxy Watch's LTE connectivity and wellness capabilities as its primary USPs. The company is also touting the smartwatch's battery life - said to provide over 80 hours of typical usage time on a single charge for the 46mm variant, and over 45 hours on the 42mm variant. Samsung adds that the Galaxy Watch supports LTE connectivity with over 30 carriers and over 15 countries.

As for its wellness features, Samsung says the Galaxy Watch features a new stress management tracker, meant to automatically detect high levels of stress and offers breathing exercises. A new sleep tracker is said to monitor all levels of sleep, including REM cycles. In terms of fitness, Samsung says the Galaxy Watch now has 21 new indoor exercises, letting users track a total of 39 workouts. The company is also touting calorie tracking and personalised alerts on the nutrition front, adding that Bixby Vision on an associated Galaxy device will provide them nutritional information for their meals, logged in Samsung Health and on the watch as well.

The Galaxy Watch is touted to come with a wide selection of watch faces and straps, including straps made by Braloba. Finally, in terms of features, the smartwatch sports an Always On Display, and for the first time on one of the company's wearables, the Galaxy Watch offers analogue watch ticks and hourly chimes. The smartwatch is MIL-STD-810 certified for durability, and comes with Corning Gorilla Glass DX+. It also has what's called an "industry-leading water resistance" at 5 ATM. It features an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

Samsung Galaxy Watch, with analogue watch face visible

As for specifications, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 46mm variant bears a 1.3-inch Super AMOLED display with a 360x360 pixels resolution. It measures 46x49x13mm, weighs 63 grams, and supports a 22mm interchangeable strap. The 46mm variant is powered by a 472mAh battery. The Galaxy Watch 42mm variant on the other hand sports a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display with the same 360x360 pixels resolution, measures 41.9x45.7x12.7mm, weighs 49 grams, and supports 22mm interchangeable straps.

Common specifications between both Samsung Galaxy Watch variants include the dual-core Samsung Exynos 9110 SoC (clocked at 1.15GHz). The LTE variants feature 1.5GB of RAM, while the regular Bluetooth-based variants feature 768MB of RAM. Both bear 4GB of inbuilt storage. Connectivity options include 3G/LTE, Bluetooth v4.2, Wi-Fi b/g/n, NFC, and A-GPS. Sensors on board include an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, barometer, gyroscope, and heart rate monitor. Both smartwatches support WPC-based wireless charging, and are compatible with smartphones running Android 5.0 and later or iOS 9.0 and later (iPhone 5 and above).

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